Italy slaps Meta with €805mn fine over access to Android photos

Italy's data protection agency said on Saturday that it was imposing an €805 million (around $887.3 million) fine on Meta for violating the privacy of Italian users.

What do we know so far? 

Italian regulators say Meta accessed the photos and videos from Italian Android phone users via the Facebook app. The regulators said the privacy infringement was due to a feature on the Facebook app that suggests photos from users' personal galleries that they can then post on the social media platform.  

The data protection agency said Meta did this "without obtaining specific consent and without properly informing them." 

The fine, equal to 0.4% of Meta's annual turnover, is the largest ever imposed by Italian regulators on a big tech company. 

Meta has 60 days to disable the camera roll suggestions feature and to separately ask for permission from Facebook users for just that function.

Italy's data protection agency said there were a "high number of people affected" by Meta's data privacy infringement "which is still ongoing for those who have not updated the app and for those who have already given their consent to the system."  

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Regulators first launched the investigation into Meta in July 2025, and say the US tech giant has not cooperated during the probe.  

Meta says it will appeal 

Meta said it would file a legal appeal against the financial penalty. 

A Meta spokesperson said "we strongly disagree" with the decision by Italian regulators, labeling the fine "dispproportionate." 

The company had also previously denied using the camera roll feature to train AI models, although this aspect was not being probed by Italian regulators. 

Meta's European headquarters is in Ireland and the company has previously argued that the data privacy case should fall under Irish legal jurisdiction.

Italian regulators have rejected this claim.